Green Halloween

Here are some ideas for a happy and green Halloween.
Skip the plastic costumes- If you're trying to be the most realistic pirate, superhero, or villain at this year's bash, then a cheap, store-bought costume might be the way to go—though the hidden dangers and environmental impact should outweigh even the most enthusiastic compliments from other party-goers. Watch out for the soft vinyl—similar to shower curtain material—in many mass-produced costumes: that's likely polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which releases dangerous chemicals. Not exactly something you want covering your face (or your child's)—plus, it can't be recycled.
Get creative at home- So what to do instead? With a little planning and creativity, even the least handy DIYers can put together a costume with items they have at home——try stringing old ping pong balls for Wilma Flintstone's classic necklace, or bending old wire hangers into butterfly wings. Scour your closets (and your friends', and neighbors', and local thrift stores) for flashback fashions you can pair up, trim down, sew together, or dye (naturally, of course).
Choose a kid-friendly carryall - When it comes to hauling all those treasures home, reusable canvas bags get the win over plastic or paper for safety and environmental reasons. Buy your own blank bags and let the little ones decorate them with non-toxic paint—they're sure to be an annual highlight—or browse craft stores and online retailers for seasonal offerings that sport witches, ghosts, and goblins galore. Then keep your kids visible to passing cars with battery-free flashlights.
Keep it simple - The rest of your decorations—plastic spiders, dangling skeletons, spooky scarecrows—should be one-time purchases that you use every year, just like the rest of your holiday decor. When possible, look for reclaimed material; if you’re buying things you know you can't keep—like streamers or paper plates—be sure to look for brands that are both recycled and recyclable.

I can't take credit for this. It's from Treehugger

Am I Getting Old

or museums getting better? Last Friday, I took the day off and spent it in Springfield, IL. We went to the Lincoln Museum, The Dana Thomas House, and Darcy's Pint for lunch.
The Lincoln Museum was very impressive. I really enjoyed it. I don't want to give too much away, but I like that they didn't paint Lincoln into the picture-perfect president. They painted him in a realistic light. He was a politician, and therefore made some political decisions. He was a controversial leader, but he was still one of our greatest presidents. I enjoyed the realism and think it is very important to teach.
The Dana Thomas was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I just stood in the house with my mouth dropped open like some sort of crazy idiot. Wow. The genius of this man cannot be expressed in words. Since he completely revolutionized design, we need completely revolutionized adjectives to describe it. I could stand in the entry foyer for hours and just point out the small details that Wright alone created and designed and how it changed history. Public Tours will cease on December 1st as of today. If you are in the neighborhood, take a gander at a modern marvel.
Of course, since we were in Springfield, we had to eat a horseshoe at Darcy's. I had the Buffalo chicken with layers of crispy crinkle cut fries and the best cheese sauce poured over the everthing. This is comfort food at its best.
What a great day.

My Hero

Michael Pollan is a genius. He wrote 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' (which inspired King Corn, the documentary that changed my life) and 'The Eater's Manifesto' (which is about not buying any food with more than four ingredients in it). He is solely responsible for the change in the way America is looking at food. He is pressuring the government to change their food policies. They may have worked at one time, but they are not working anymore. He wrote a letter in the New York Times to the future President and here's some of the genius that it is (I have done the highlighting):

...reform of the entire food system one of the highest priorities of your administration: unless you do, you will not be able to make significant progress on the health care crisis, energy independence or climate change. Unlike food, these are issues you did campaign on — but as you try to address them you will quickly discover that the way we currently grow, process and eat food in America goes to the heart of all three problems and will have to change if we hope to solve them.

After cars, the food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy — 19 percent. And while the experts disagree about the exact amount, the way we feed ourselves contributes more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than anything else we do — as much as 37 percent, according to one study. Whenever farmers clear land for crops and till the soil, large quantities of carbon are released into the air. But the 20th-century industrialization of agriculture has increased the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the food system by an order of magnitude; chemical fertilizers (made from natural gas), pesticides (made from petroleum), farm machinery, modern food processing and packaging and transportation have together transformed a system that in 1940 produced 2.3 calories of food energy for every calorie of fossil-fuel energy it used into one that now takes 10 calories of fossil-fuel energy to produce a single calorie of modern supermarket food. Put another way, when we eat from the industrial-food system, we are eating oil and spewing greenhouse gases. This state of affairs appears all the more absurd when you recall that every calorie we eat is ultimately the product of photosynthesis — a process based on making food energy from sunshine. There is hope and possibility in that simple fact.
In addition to the problems of climate change and America’s oil addiction, you have spoken at length on the campaign trail of the health care crisis. Spending on health care has risen from 5 percent of national income in 1960 to 16 percent today, putting a significant drag on the economy. The goal of ensuring the health of all Americans depends on getting those costs under control. There are several reasons health care has gotten so expensive, but one of the biggest, and perhaps most tractable, is the cost to the system of preventable chronic diseases. Four of the top 10 killers in America today are chronic diseases linked to diet: heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and cancer. It is no coincidence that in the years national spending on health care went from 5 percent to 16 percent of national income, spending on food has fallen by a comparable amount — from 18 percent of household income to less than 10 percent. While the surfeit of cheap calories that the U.S. food system has produced since the late 1970s may have taken food prices off the political agenda, this has come at a steep cost to public health. You cannot expect to reform the health care system, much less expand coverage, without confronting the public-health catastrophe that is the modern American diet.

Interesting insights about our state of being inthe US and how it can be all tracked back to our food. For the whole article, here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?_r=1&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink&oref=slogin

Passive Aggressive Rudeness

Sometimes I ponder the questions people ask. They seem rude sometimes and other times they are very personal, yet time and time again, the same questions are asked across the country. For example: when a couple is having a hard time trying to conceive. There are acquaintances in the couple's life that will ask questions about the process. I can't imagine how these couples feel. I would not be comfortable talking about my sex life or my monthly schedule. Yes, there are friends you will discuss this with, but your old neighbor that you run into at the grocery store should not be asking you questions in front of the oatmeal.

For me, it's a housing issue. Whenever I meet new people or even when work people shift to personal talk, I typically get 2 questions. The first question is do you rent or own? Why is that your concern? Why does anyone need to know what my debt is? Will it change their opinion of me? Does renting rather than owning give off some sort of vibe or qualification as a person? No one would EVER ask a married couple if they rent or own. I think it would be considered rude, but for a single woman (and maybe man, I don't know), it is consider a valid question.

After I say, yes, I own my house. The next question is 'Do you cut your grass?' What kind of question is that? Am I less of a person because I cut my grass? Are you determining my level of friendship with you based on my yard work skills? I would NEVER ask a singly guy, 'so do you do your own laundry?' I realize their intentions are harmless, so I am not getting into a fury over this, but when you sit down and analyze the question, it is really quite rude.

My question to you (because everyone has them): What is a question you are asked on a regular basis that you consider a little off-putting? AND does anyone have any clever remark I can respond with when I am asked if I cut my grass?

I am thankful

I think we all need to take a minute and realize how lucky we are. I think so many of us get caught up in the things we don't have, the things we want, and the things we can't have. We seem to always dwell on the things that went wrong or how someone failed. When it comes down to it; it is your person failing.
I beg you all today and appreciate what you have. I have a house that I own (which doesn't happen all over the world or 80 years ago in the US), I have a GREAT family (I could be related to Ozzy Osbourne's craziness), I have fabu friends (you know who you are). I also am thankful for my job because #1 I have a job that pays my bills, but #2 I really like my job.
So stop complaining, we all have to deal with things, but we HAVE SO MUCH in life living where we live. Today, stop and watch the sunset, read a book, do something that makes you ridiculously happy and remember that feeling.
And give others a break. You're not perfect either.
Yes, I know I need to take my own advice, and Denae, don't take this personally, this is not a reply to your last post, I promise.

Let me explain again

I couldn't even follow the last entry so let me explain again...

Cow emit pollution. A lot of it, let's not get into the details. If we use less cows (for food, furniture, and clothing) we will create less pollution and our world smiles.

For an analogy: we all know SUV's eat up your money and pollute excessively. Let's face it, there are certain times when SUV are needed and useful. If we only use SUV's when they are useful instead of just tooling around, we will reduce pollution (and save a couple bucks). If we use cows less, such as eating meat only 3x's a week, eating less dairy, maybe skipping those great leather heels, we, in turn, will rely on cows less and pollute less. Try to stay away from the cow.

The trouble with cows

Everything I read always seems to circle back to one thing: Cows. We eat too much corn because farmers feed corn to cows (which they can't digest and therefore consume over 70% of the US prescriptions sold in the US). The amount of beef that Americans consume is very unhealthy (mainly because we eat corn-fed beef which has much more fat).

Take a Starbucks coffee: more than half of the greenhouses gases used to produce the coffee is from the milk! Not from the coffee grinding process, not from shipping coffee from South America or from the shipping the finished product to Starbucks across the US. It's not even from the milling, manufacturing, and shipping of the paper cup. It's from the cow producing the milk.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, cows produce methane, a greenhouse gas that, pound for pound, is 25 times more damaging to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. 2 cows pollute as much as my Focus in one year.

Timberland has started putting carbon footprints on some of their shoes. What is the biggest culprit? Leather. Even though the shoes are manufactured and shipped from 3 different places in Asia and then shipped all over the US., transportation only made up 5% of their carbon footprint. It's the leather that contributes the most to their footprint. And we're back to the cows.

In tips to lessen your carbon footprint, many people suggest to eat less meat. I am always met with wild looks when this is suggested. Cows are amazing pollution producing machines. I will get into the inefficiencies of humans as carnivores later.

I think we need to stop our dependency on cows.